One in ten boys become addicted to gaming

Do Fortnite, Roblox, and Minecraft get a lot of playtime in your home too? You’re not alone. 

Many children and adolescents spend a lot of time gaming, often with both friends and strangers online.

This can be a great way to socialise and stay connected. But for some, it can get completely out of hand.

“When gaming over a long period of time affects the young person’s ability to relate to the outside world, it may be due to computer game addiction, or Internet Gaming Disorder,” says Lars Wichstrøm, a professor at NTNU’s Department of Psychology.

An international research group investigated how symptoms of computer game addiction develop, and how stable these symptoms are from childhood to late adolescence. 

Some of the findings are concerning.

Boys are much more likely to get hooked on gaming

Two factors were repeated across age and gender among those who were diagnosed with Internet Gaming Disorder (IGD): 

• Strong involvement (a lot of gaming) 
• Negative consequences (harmful consequences)

“Around one in ten boys met the diagnostic criteria for IGD at least once between the ages of 10 and 18,” says Wichstrøm.

Boys are most easily hooked on gaming. Just 1 to 2 per cent of girls develop this kind of problem. An average incidence overall of between 5 and 6 per cent thus hides large gender differences.

Boys are simply more competitive, Wichstrøm says.

“We don’t really know why more boys become addicted, but boys have always been more interested in gaming than girls, whether it’s computer games, Ludo or chess,” he says.

When boys and men do things together, it's often centred around an activity, such as football, carpentry, or gaming. Girls don’t need this type of structure as much.

Because boys generally spend much more time gaming than girls, they are also more at risk of becoming addicted.

Also about rewards

“The brain releases dopamine in its reward centre when we do activities we enjoy, like gaming. This release increases when we expect a positive experience and when the expectation is actually met,” says Beate W. Hygen, a senior researcher at NTNU Social Research AS.

Hygen has extensive experience in studying the conditions surrounding computer games.

“Research has shown that dopamine is released during gaming, mostly when you're doing well and especially in competition with others. Boys play competitive games more often, which can result in more frequent dopamine releases. Perhaps this is also part of the explanation for why boys are more often hooked on gaming,” she says.

Numbers from a long-term study

The figures come from a group of young people in Trondheim through the Trondheim Early Secure Study, a long-term birth cohort study. 

812 participants from the 2003/2004 cohorts were followed up 5 times between the ages of 10 and 18. Boys and girls were represented in roughly equal numbers.

The measurements were largely comparable across age groups.

“We see that the proportion who are heavily involved in gaming increases from the age of 10 to the age of 16. But then this clearly falls when they are 18 years old,” says Wichstrøm.

Even though gaming decreased for the 18-year-olds, the negative consequences remained stable. This suggests that many young people cut back or stop gaming. But a smaller group continues to game, with negative consequences for some.

Address the problem early

Parents who are concerned about gaming addiction may want to address this early.

“Children who are heavily involved in gaming as they approach their teenage years are more likely to become even more involved later on. They also experience negative consequences more often, especially when they are 14 to 18 years old,” Wichstrøm points out.

Early adolescence, around 12 years, can be an important time for prevention and early intervention. This is before the symptoms become more complex and difficult to change, the researcher explain.

Reference:

Wichstrøm et al. 'Structure and stability of internet gaming disorder from childhood to late adolescence: A 5-wave birth cohort study', Addiction, vol. 121, 2025. DOI: 10.1111/add.70195 (Abstract)

About the research

Researchers from NTNU Social Research AS, Nottingham Trent University, and the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology were also involved in the research.

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